Fed Minutes were a Dud(ley)

Stock and bond markets shrugged off the March FOMC minutes, probably because New York Fed President William Dudley gave the market the spoiler last week: a nominal rise in the fed funds rate before the end of the year (“June is still in play,” Dudley told CNBC), but not much to follow, depending on the degree of economic weakness. That follows the pattern set in the FOMC statement after its March meeting, in which the Fed dropped the “patient” language but slashed in half its year-end forecast for the funds rate.